made a mess. civilians are bearing the brunt and it's real continues to pound gaza with a ground invasion in the works despite international efforts to mediate peace. tel aviv claims it's not targeting civilians and collateral damage is minimal. frog's demonstrates its support for the syrian opposition after joining turkey and recognizing them as legitimate representatives with the eview under pressure to send weapons to rebels. by the u.k. government's budget handling is under fire after it's revealed that billions of pounds spent on bank bailouts may all go down the drain.

it is a pleasure to have you with us here on our t. . shirt live in moscow israel's intensifying its barrels of gas on the fourth day of hostilities stepping up preparations for a possible ground invasion militants are firing back with unguided rockets mostly fall off target all israeli precision strikes are leading to a rising number of civilian deaths paula so we have the latest from the region now joining us here on the program paula how far off has a full scale invasion look at this point. while the israeli defense forces has sealed off roads around gaza declaring the area a closed military zone this is just another suggestion that a ground offensive could be imminent also israeli officials have been meeting with foreign diplomats and telling them that they plan to extend the army operations

this comes after some seventy five thousand reservists were called out and we are witnessing an increase in activity along the israeli gaza border. now there continues to be heavy shelling from tanks along this border into gaza the tanks as well as armored personnel vehicles have been moved throughout this border over the past few days we are also hearing from the chief of these will be defense forces for an increase in the pace of a strikes on gaza this comes just after a massive air strikes on saturday completely destroyed the headquarters of the hamas government now this is a building where just yesterday the egyptian prime minister visited it is a building that has now been reduced to rubble at the time of the prime minister's visit they was supposed to be a ceasefire in effect and according to the israelis they did not break this but we have heard from hamas that two people were killed during this time now hamas has issued a statement in which it says it will stand alongside its people we're talking about

a government that was democratically elected back in two thousand and six and if you remember at the time the world hailed the election as a sign of democracy in the gaza strip so we're not talking about his radiate strikes that are targeting rebel groups but rather strikes that are targeting the just to let him make to the voice of the people of gaza at the same time according to israeli statistics some four hundred and fifty rockets have been fired into southern israel since wednesday and there was a barrage earlier today as well but no reports of deaths and light injuries it is worth mentioning that most of these missiles homemade there are some that are long range ukrainian missiles but they are unguided and they are by and large missing their target they are also mostly being intercepted by the israeli side into this and earlier today here in tel aviv the israelis deployed an iron dome system for the first time ever paula certainly over the past few days i know you have been sort of i've been talking to officials from the i.d.f.

i even spoke to the prime minister's top spokesperson describing to me that the past four day siege an assault on gaza has been the most precise that exist. israeli siege the country is known in recent history but it seems a bit bizarre then certainly they're having trouble explaining the rising number of civilian civilian casualties what are they telling you where you are. well certainly if you talk to people on the ground everybody does point to the fact that this cannot be a precisely targeted operation you have the number of dead that continues to climb and many of them in fact most of them are civilians and you get to we have the number of injured people continuing to increase the foreign ministry spokesperson did stress the point that the israeli army is targeting only the militants responsible for the firing of these rockets but he was hard placed to answer the question as to why so many civilians are being killed. the israeli government will do everything needed targeting terrorists only. to

stop the firing of rockets from israeli cities don't because really schools is really children and if we will need some ground operation we definitely will consider there are no children been heard by the idea of only tourists heard in only tourists are targeted i want to see that we have only one goal israel has to defend its citizens. now one of the israeli air strikes did target the home are they have mass media in the jabalya refugee camp which is arguably the most densely populated area on earth and they you have a majority of young people we are hearing figures that as many as fifty people there have been injured many of them children and many of them critical at the same time the international community is pushing up efforts to try and deal with the situation later on saturday there will be the meeting of the arab league the

foreign minister is in gaza to show his support for the hamas government and we're also hearing statements from both. ki-moon and others in the international community. we're now hearing also that the u.s. is deploying a navy carrier just off the israeli coastal just in case americans are forced to evacuate or check in with you later in the day artie's live in tel aviv thank you. well of paul is keeping us updated on air and online as well you can just simply follow her twitter stream for the latest and joining us live now from inside embattled garza a filmmaker and activist a very clear it's good to see you today thanks for joining us so quickly on such short notice you've been there since the first israeli bombs began to fall how the civilians coping with the onslaught. of the civilians are coping to an extent things have got a little bit better in the last few hours in terms of the number of aerial and naval bombardment of the gaza strip the sort of casualties are being inflicted with

those new need limited bachman's is still very great news as you just reported we're talking about thirty injuries as a result of one targeting and we've seen houses which are basically been wiped off the map in gaza in the last twenty four hours or so people are still remaining terrorized a friend of mine who lives in a dangerous area not because it. is this it's find in it just because it is rather threats and it's targeting she had to evacuate her home three times since the beginning of operation pillar of cloud that's how dangerous things are here for your friend so. that the israeli air strikes are not being entirely accurate well that's exactly the opposite from what we've heard from the israeli defense forces and the ministry isn't this supposed to be a precision targeting job. well apparently israel boasts such high quality military equipment that it is able to make accurate targeting we hear from israelis in the last few years that the drones have such high quality optics they can even see the

color of women's head scarves on the ground in gaza at the same time we're seeing dead children including three under the age of two in the last few. we have to ask ourselves why exactly is this happening to me it seems obvious here on the ground that israel is willing to use disproportionate force to reckon see attack the targets of it which it wishes to assassinate many of whom had been democratically mandated by the promise to. israel and its allies are arguing that the militants are to blame for the conflict by firing at israel first is there a sense among the people that hamas could in fact be provoking further attacks now well actually i have not heard anything of that nature i've been hearing the contrary which is that for the first time in a few years the palestinian people in gaza actually feel protected to an extent because it appears that israel is backing down to an extent as a result of the resistance groups ability to rockets into israeli territory to an extent to a level of force

a degree of force that they were not able to do previously before. now according to the israeli defense ministry it says it's limited to ninety percent of hamas' military capabilities of the same time the i.d.f. chief is reportedly ordered the army to increase the pace of strikes on gaza we've been selling seeing the swelling of troops on the gaza border now understand seventy five thousand reservists troops have been called up as well it would appear that a ground invasion is next on the cards you're in gaza what are you seeing what are you hearing. well we've heard very mixed bits of analysis over the last twenty four hours in particular last six hours we've got a ground invasion the streets here is generally it's like a ghost strip of land like ghosts people are still further violence further damage and people are trying to stop food and fuel exactly as has been going on the last few days since the operation started people here still feel overworked as they fear ground reoccupation of the gaza strip with time and commandos and so people

are preparing for it but we have heard mixed rhetoric from the israeli. state regarding the cost might be too high for them to actually attempt to reoccupy the gaza strip especially taking into account this recent levels leveled against israel by the promising resistance but harry how you talk about people in gaza in the gaza strip hunkering down for what might be a possible israeli ground invasion as most people know the palestinians don't even have an army so how would it happen how would it work out. well the palestinians have token resistance groups minutia wings which members of the various political movements here in gaza from through to hamas they will have the militant wing with some of these wings that more active than others and these groups are responsible for protecting the borders on a normal basis outside of this war time and for all of running firing rockets into

israel as israel strikes gaza so these are the groups they're responsible for protection there is an underground network of tunnels in the gaza strip that these are trying to use to go around and to surprise israel when they make their attack so there is a very if you like backward defense system here trying to deal with the fourth or fifth largest military power in the wall but there is some way that they are managing to force i'm sure a force we are understanding here these days from gaza filmmaker harry fear thanks for joining us on r.t. today. well gaza militants have launched several rockets in jerusalem the first time the cities have come under attack for decades and she will activist sara flounders says it's a wake up call for the israeli. it's really a game changer and very significant that for the first time hamas or from gaza attacks have. because israel is used to and has for six

decades again and again hit the palestinians with impunity when they were totally and entirely defenseless and bombed again and again even during the time that i was there in gaza it's almost a daily occurrence the threat now of a ground invasion for the first time really the palestinians were able to follow fire missiles with a range to tell of the. jews alone or to fire on the u.s. supplied israeli planes of course none of this would take place without the support the meetings a briefing beforehand in with washington without u.s. diplomatic military economic support. on air and online we're bringing you the latest from the middle east with live updates on our twitter stream on the web site it's he taught.

thanks for joining us here on our to today paris has announced plans to install a syrian ambassador from the new opposition group that's the latest show of support from western nations which also want to lift the e.u. arms embargo to openly start sending weapons to syrian rebels. plus the eurozone officially back in recession we report on how when some of the better off countries it's the elderly who are taking the financial hit by this and much more just ahead. catalonia wants to get its independence from the rest of spain locals feel that

madrid texas of catalonia economic success is a way putting the region into debt trust me working hard only to have it all taxed away is very aggravating i can see why people are frustrated but the people who want independence have a very odd slogan catalonia a new european state so let me get this straight you want independence but you want to stay in the e.u. is that what you mean what exactly would that change that's not really gaining independence that shifting dependencies staying in the e.u. means you won't have control of your borders you'll still be on the euro c. won't have your own currency you will be able to establish your trade standards those will be dictated to you by brussels and if you don't like the austerity measures from outsiders like in madrid then you might want have a conversation with the greeks because being an independent country in the e.u. won't save you from people messing with your finances all i'm saying is that being truly independent means answer to no one not madrid not brussels but that's just my opinion.

with. science technology innovation all the developments around russia we've got the future covered.

it's a quarter past the hour moscow time this is our francis says it will install an ambassador from the new syrian opposition group the national coalition the move came of talks in paris between president hollande and the new head of the new alliance. this is the latest western tactic to remove president bashar al assad britain wants to see a clear political transition plan from the new coalition before it follows france and turkey and recognizing paris and london are also expected to pressure the e.u. to allow official deliveries to the country's rebels militias have been fighting with the syrian army for nearly two years with about one hundred people being killed on a daily basis. believe the opposition movement is in a state of disarray and has no united voice. in syria of course the process has been much slower and the wave of defection that we saw in libya didn't exactly happen in syria and what's happening now in. is specifically in syria is the people

there are kind of the presenting of the syrian uprising are not the people who are underground so we started hearing for example support from different rebel groups aren't mirabelle groups for the new opposition leadership but who knows the extent of that or whether they would be able to exercise political control so what you really have to look at that there is a strong divide between leadership that is outside the country and doesn't have control on the ground and forces on the ground pretty much doing whatever they want after all we've ended with is to separate opposition bodies because this syrian national council still exists alongside the national coalition then you and i should correlation so it's a recipe for more division and kind of lack of coherence for moving the country forward. to get ahead online to find out how the pride of you case a nuclear submarine fleet has disappointed high command revealed some of the vessels surprising flaws including flooding problems. plus the

russian premier dmitri medvedev has promised finland's x. president of fluffy press and at the photo of the feline gift is there ready online more of that of art so you thought it cold. the u.k. government's handling of its bank bailouts has come under fierce criticism after it was claimed the sixty six billion pounds spent to rescue lloyds t.s.b. in the role of bank of scotland may never be recovered and the report from m.p.'s says the british taxpayers have already lost two billion in keeping another financial institution of float best drop the numbers here with artists are of. this is all focused around the public accounts committee investigation into the sale of northern rock that was the bank that if you close your mind a couple of years back was one of the first to get the big banking bailout is estimated to northern roll to type state is set to these around thirty billion but

that's not the worst of it because all of the s. and lloyds bank oh also had a lot of times payers money funded into these bailouts and the taxpayers could be set to release a staggering sixty six billion pounds on that is very very hard to wrap your head around those figures so we're going to try and compare it really the amount that was put into those bailouts to what we have in the the moment spending on say to welfare such as pensions education health care and defense these figures coming at a time when everyone here is struggling in a daily we're talking to people who are really struggling to survive in the country in the midst of this very very tough economic times and you kind of got this it was a good report very hard hitting report telling us that there was a monumental collective failure of the treasury was unable to pull the respond because they lack the right skills and understanding so it really sucked

a little bit of both the billion sorry guys we've lost and the sixty six billion you know we weren't quite up to the job one of the great the warning at the very beginning with the tax payers alliance and doing now by a campaign manager robert oxley thank you for joining us today these types of stories always make me so angry because you know every day we're covering stories where people are struggling with a living wage in the way they starts to pension seen a tax is a rising all the time and then you have this report showing that you know sixty six billion could be lost i mean it's just cheating irresponsible with taxpayers' money for this report as a. politician to spoil their woolly words. that we were going to make money out of the banks and that propping up the banks would be you know it would be ok and there was a chorus of people from both sides of the political divide saying we're we need to belt out the barracks were ultimately what's happened is we've lost billions of pounds we've basically allowed politicians to gamble other people's money hold

those politicians haven't got very good result as is always the case when politicians are spending other people's money it's incredible how automobiles in power manage to get every major across this room and i think we're seeing the moment in a rejection of the way that of politics at westminster is out of touch to the point here is it with the writing was on the wall whether any lessons well actually be lying of course remains to be thing but they if they think they've absolutely walking lost is that the maybe at least a lot of people saying you know we think the banks he's going to save us. into the sea world out there will go right now starting with a train collision with a school bus south of the egyptian capital it's claimed the lives of at least forty seven children the exact number of fatalities yet unclear the local doctor said that many of the victims were aged between four and six the accident reportedly happened because the railroad crossing was and closed while the train sped towards it egypt's transport minister has resigned following the crash. security is on high alert in thailand following a terror attack ahead of

a planned visit by barack obama on sunday at least one person was killed and many injured when a motorcycle bomb exploded in the country's volatile self setting five buildings on fire obama is to begin to three nation tour of southeast asia hoping to boost u.s. influence in a region where china is seen to be increasingly assertive and. u.s. congressmen have passed at the so-called magnitsky bill which puts visa restrictions on russian officials that washington claims have been involved in human rights violations or the legislation was named after a russian lawyer sort of good magnitsky who died in police custody three years ago while serving time for alleged tax evasion moscow slammed. veil is a farce and promised a jew response washington also voted to lift soviet era trade limitations with russia but author and historian dr gerald horne believes the u.s. is making a step towards a souring of relations. with the message to the must go is that the research is.

how russia quickly at that when one door closes another one opens what i mean is that that the human rights situation united states and so it's quite terrible and i would hope that the russian duma and the russian authorities would begin to scrutinize carefully the human rights situation right here in the united states where for example dislike one example months many in the black population is about twelve or thirteen percent of the population of about fifty percent of the prison population and they are disproportionately represented on the world those slated for execution by the state authorities for example why not a miniscule bill you know moscow that would pose visa restrictions on those businesses who would seek to do business with russia that are involved in violation of equal opportunity laws right here in the united states i mean i think there are a number of measures that could take that would be inappropriate to protect. this is r.t. that despite the looming economic trouble in the eurozone one of its biggest economies france has always been praised as the promise land for they were tired however with

a single currency zone hit with a second recession things are changing fast as artie's alex had a chef ski report. when you look at the elderly people in france you'd never think they could be in trouble there has been a common belief that france is one of the best countries in the world for pensioners and that they're very well cared for by the state but with the financial crisis raging across the european union and france being no exception to that more and more of the retired are finding it harder to make ends meet pierre worked as an engineer for over four decades having retired he says he sometimes cannot afford to buy food with his parents. six. months. to live there is a six year old for a lot of. people say you have to.

have two or to all sixty years or how can you survive in circumstances like piers is unclear but hundreds of thousands of pensioners across the country are in the same boat say the chairman of a large charity which is trying to help. the number of seniors turning for help has increased considerably in regions and france it used to be in the north but now all regions are of young people and children used to help but now with the greatest hitting the young. but now these struggling people are in for another blow starting next year the pensions of over ten million french will be taxed says the minister for the elderly this will amount to zero point fifteen percent of monthly payments and the new government believes this will generate three hundred fifty million euros annually for the social security fund but economists believe it's pointless where the government's trying to do now is reach

by all means the three percent deficit threshold that was promised to process and they're trying to find like every single penny. obviously countries don't have a say or do harm to the pensioners and to their spending power will be just really bad for consumption as a whole in france it will not be a perfect solution for small reinvigorating french growth and beer at greece because in his case every cent counts it may be less than one percent a few spanish and deducted each month but it still threatens to take food from his mouth alexi russia ski see reporting from paris and france. and i just a few minutes here on. the world's biggest banks there is that defiance in the face of daily fraud the kaiser report just as.

the stunning beauty of reindeer gracefully dancing across the arctic tundra more than just a scenic image it is a way of life for some traditionally the nets people are nomadic reindeer herders and though in many ways they lead a simple and rustic life they are also highly skilled and organized in their tree. another week and will be preparing for the winter and living around more and more every sponges summerlin is depending on the pastures on the day we found this particularly camp they were settled near the coast of the ta to see here for families work together to manage nearly a thousand reindeer herding reindeer is not just a job for the men it's people in fact they say it's a part of their entire culture heritage and way of life and back they say that they can use almost every single part of the reindeer to help them survive. and they have a deer is a means of transportation it's

a source of grantland our equipment and clothes and with the outside and inside of us intense. but life in the tundra is. harsh and so before winter hits many of the children are helicoptered to the center of the district and not even marked for boarding school. students learn different languages utilize modern technologies through specialized grant programs and even learn arts skills all within a protected environment the school was founded. a scientist who wanted a better way of life for his people but even with the most progressive ideas and education many say they don't want to trade the modern life for their beloved. i have returned to the tundra and i actually like it here if you're outside there's fresh air fresh water looks at the site you can see deer it's a joyful sight. a sentiment that hopefully ensures that russia's northern reindeer

will have caretakers for generations to come. speak your language. programs and documentaries in spanish. stories. spanish find out more visit i. work at work. mascot.